India’s efforts to rescue bonded labourers undone by delayed rehabilitation

Manoj Kumar Anant and his wife Shakuntala Bai were rescued from bonded labour at a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar in 2022. He had told IndiaSpend in September 2023 that he was waiting for rehabilitation assistance under the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour, 2021.

Two years later Manoj is still waiting for the full rehabilitation assistance, he said, while bedridden in a hospital bed, his left arm paralysed after an accident in March this year.

“The first few weeks after a rescue are critical for released bonded labourers so that they do not slip into rebondage,” said Tina Kuriakose Jacob, senior research fellow, International Institute of Migration and Development. “The Ministry of Labour’s 2016 Rehabilitation Scheme for Bonded Labourers explicitly mentioned financial and non-financial support, so that they do not fall in bondage again.”

Manoj’s case is not unique. IndiaSpend travelled to Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and found that 10 others – all from the Scheduled Caste Satnami community in the state – who were rescued with Manoj and his wife from the same brick kiln in 2022 were waiting for assistance. They each received Rs 30,000, which is supposed to be an immediate cash assistance, only after two years, and none of them have been rehabilitated as per the central sector scheme, under...

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